Scientific translation

What does scientific translation mean?

Scientific translation is the translation of documents dealing about scientific issues. Science includes many arguments, from mathematics to chemistry, botany, physics and medicine. Scientific translation relates to the translation of these topics.

What scientific documents can you translate?

Thanks to my skills and specializations, I can translate the following kinds of scientific documents: material safety data sheets (MSDS), patents, papers, essays, EMA documents, PILs, clinical trials, product descriptions and labels, popular papers on magazines for a wide public, articles and essays for specialistic reviews, websites about topics directed to more or less expert readers, textbooks for primary and secondary education and university books.

What documents, on the contrary, you DO NOT translate?

Among scientific documents I do not translate you can find: mathematics, physics, botany documents, highly specialized geology and biology documents, researches, essays and studies about these subjects.

I generally do not translate documents about subjects which do not fall within my specialisations. If I’m not able to translate a document due to its kind or subject, I inform the customer and if he desires, I help him find the right translator for his needs.

The technical translation

What does technical translation mean?

Technical translation is the translation of documents different form essays and novels. Technical documents vary from a smartphone user manual, to the product leaflet of a drug, to a legal document (a deed) to a financial report.

Generally I do not translate documents about subjects which do not fall within my specializations. If I’m not able to translate a document due to its kind or subject, I inform the customer and if he desires, I help him find the right translator for his needs.

Translation languages

In which languages do you translate?

I’m Italian mother tongue, so I mainly translate into Italian. In particular, I translate from English and French into Italian. I can offer translation services in other languages, thanks to a network of colleagues and reliable professionals who translate in other language combinations. Moreover, in the event of translations into English or French, I can rely on an English or French mother tongue colleague for a second reading, proofreading and correction of my translation.

I translate MSDS also from Italian into English and French without the aid of a proofreader. The reason is that the sentences reported on MSDS are highly standardized and do not require particular proofreading by a mother tongue colleague.

Specializations and translation kinds

What are your specializations? What kind of translations do you perform?

From my training and knowledge, I can offer technical translations and scientific translations services.

For more information, please visit the portfolio page or contact me, I’ll answer you within 24 hours.

Prices and quotes

How much a translation costs?

Each translation project requires an accurate document analysis and leads to a separate quote.

To give you an idea, a standard REACH compliant MSDS (about 2000-3000 words) will cost from 200 to 400 EUR; a 15 pages patent will cost about 450 EUR; if you need to translate a technical standard (e.g. UNI, ASTM, EN, etc.) for internal use, this will cost about 1000 EUR.

Moreover I offer terminology consultancy services on often already translated documents (for example, patents, manuals). These services are counted on a per hour basis.

What does your rate include?

The rate starts from a per word or per page base. This rate keeps into account the difficulty of document to be translated, the terminology researches needed in the text field, the real translation, the proofreading and quality review and the layout of the document. At the end of all research-translation-proofreading-quality review-layout process you will have a ready-to-use document, which does not require further changes to be used.

The base rate is multiplied by the word/page number that forms the text to be translated (per source word/page rate). If the text has many equal or similar sentences, the final price can be lower. In fact, thanks to the use of Computer-Assisted Translation tool (CAT tools), I can guarantee a consistent translation throughout the document and equal sentences will be translated in an identical and nearly automatic way. This implies that I work faster and so you will receive your translated document in less time and at a lower price.

On the contrary, the rate can raise compared to base rate if documents are difficult to process (for example, a paper document instead of a file). In this case (paper document) the word count will be made on the final translated document and it will not be possible to use equal or similar sentences.

A surcharge is applied also in case of a project to be done urgently (10% increase on the total amount of the invoice) or a project that requires to work during weekend (15% increase on the total amount of the invoice).

How does the quoting step take place?

In order to give you a rate and a delay for the translation project I need to visualize all documents to be translated. Based on my experience, on text difficulties, on customer requirements and on any other on-going projects, I send you a detailed quote reporting the total price for the project and delivery delays.

What are the payment terms?

For all projects I ask a 30% account of the total quote before beginning the project.

I issue regular invoice at the end of the project. For customers living in Italy, the invoice is formed by the agreed quote rate, plus the social security quote (4%) plus VAT tax (22%), minus the advance tax deduction (20%).

For customers living outside Italy, the price set in the quote does not have VAT and social security loading.

The balance payment must be done by 30 days from the invoice issuing date, if not otherwise agreed at the time of the quote.

I accept, wire transfers and PayPal payment.

Working times

How much time do you spend to translate…?

Translation includes a first step of document reading and terminology research, the real translation step, a step for text proofreading and review and the final pagination step. Moreover, I’m often working on other projects, so I can’t immediately commit 100% to your project. During the quote step, according to the document kind, to its length and to my engagements and on going projects, I can tell you the exact delivery date for your project.

In any case, just to give you an idea, please find some examples:

– REACH compliant standard MSDS: 2 working days

– 15 pages patent: 4-5 working days

technical standard (e.g. UNI, ASTM, EN, ETC) to be translated for internal use 6-7 working days

To give you an example, I do not translate 20k words (or 100 pages) in a week, because in this time I’m not even able to copy the words without translating them.

I need an urgent translation: can you help me?

As I explain in this article, I can hardly translate a big document in a short time. Anyway, contact me and I will inform you about the possible delivery date for your document to be translated, also bases on ongoing projects.

Methodology and working tools

Do you use any software or any other tools for your job?

For my translation work I use a computer-aided translation software (CAT Tool). This tool recognizes equal sentences in a text and automatically translate them in the same way as the first translation provided by the translator for that sentence. Thanks to the software, even if the translation remains entirely performed by translator (it is not an automatic translation), the translated document is uniform as for style and terminology, even if I translate different texts or similar texts in different times. The sentences repeating equally, called repetitions, are not counted in the text to be translated. I can deliver my work faster because I do not have to manage the repeated equal sentences. My customer can save money, because in my quotes I do not count repetitions.

I heard about the automatic translation: do you use it?

I do NOT use automatic translation tools. All translations I deliver to my customers results from my personal engagement, my experience and my knowledge and skills. For the kind of texts I translate I can’t use automatic translation and at the same time provide quality and error-free translated documents, compliant to any law.The computer-aided translation software I use serve to automatize part of my job and to render texts, style and terminology uniform. The translation, however is always and completely done by me.